a broad abroad

Valencia: 3/19/2017 Despite waking up plenty early, we somehow almost missed our train to Valencia. The streets were empty at 9 am, but we had to make a mad dash for it with our heavy backpacks and yogurt Rocio had given us in our pockets. We made it with minutes to spare. We met up with Melissa’s other former host, Cristina, and her lovely family, when we got to Valencia.   The streets of Valencia are lined with orange trees, and the sweet smell of Valencian oranges and orange blossoms permeates the air.   The oranges are smaller and more bitter than the ones we have here, but they make a delicious juice, which we discovered at Cristina’s parents’ house when they gave us some for breakfast.  I also had my first experience with Iberian ham there.   All over Spain, cured ham legs are sold.   This ham is totally different from American ham – it is salted and dried, but is not as dry as jerky.   Whole legs are sold, and most homes have a ham hol...

Alicante: 3/18/2017 I picked Spain because two of my good friends coincidentally happened to be there as well at different times and in different cities.   My stopover was in Moscow. It was very ass-backwards, overshooting Spain by a few hours, but I didn’t care since the flight was cheap.   After eight hours on a plane as the only non-Russian speaker, surrounded by old ladies wearing slippers and chugging airplane bottles of vodka, I was ecstatic to be in Spain. Alicante is a charming little seaside town.   When I arrived, it was 65 degrees and sunny.   I met up with Melissa and her study abroad host, Rocio, gave us a recommendation for a tapas restaurant nearby.   In greeting, Rocio said “encantada” and kissed me on both cheeks. I absolutely love that about Europeans and immediately adopted “encantada” (“charmed, enchanted”) into my vocabulary. We walked through the town until we came upon a series of winding streets with hidden passageways ne...

"The Theory of Everything" I left with only a backpack. In any case, it was a very full backpack.   It felt like I had crammed all of my thoughts in there, too, and so I left with a heaviness that was tangible upon my back. Along the way the pack lightened. Water bottles were lost and eye drops were used up and old shirts were discarded and other people shared similar struggles and told stories and kindred spirits were met and trust was forged through just eye contact and a map. I forgot everything and everyone. I was not a student, an employee, a girlfriend, a child. I was me and yet I was no one and yet I was anyone I wanted to be. I was the personality I forged for myself. I had no obligations. There were no bills. No emails. No chains. I was fearless. It did not matter if I got lost. I spent a lot of time getting lost. Often that was when I found things I wasn’t looking for but pleased to find. A beautiful park, a café, a parade, a new friend. I collected bits of pa...

Day 6: London This morning, I caught the train back to London.   Fun fact, they blow whistles when the train doors are about to start closing. Of COURSE - how British. I’ve noticed by now that in this part of Europe they seem to only get around eight hours of sunlight – even less than at home.   From my vague recollection of my world map, the latitude is not much different than here, though, maybe on par with Canada.   But the sun doesn’t come up until 8 or 8:30, and by 4:00 dusk has fallen. When I got back to London I had lunch in King’s Cross station, which is where platform 9 ¾ is located in Harry Potter. All my dreams are coming true! I decided to take a picture on the platform later, though, because there were dozens of people in the line. Again I tried to be mindful and do only one thing at a time, especially when eating. Strange looks be damned, though I didn’t notice any today. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to be alone, especially without wifi, but ...